Expanding the evidence around key health issues, and evaluating, learning from, and sharing key lessons both from our own grantmaking and from other health-improvement initiatives tied to our areas of interest.

Connected with these objectives, we fund a wide range of activities, including but not limited to:

Planning and demonstration projects

Research and evaluations

Policy and statistical analysis

Learning networks and communities

Public education and strategic communications

Community engagement and coalition-building

Training and fellowship programs

Technical assistance

In general, the activities we support are carried out by public agencies, universities, and public charities that are tax-exempt under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. While we are focused on a healthier U.S., we also fund grants that help us learn from and adapt global innovations.

How We Develop and Administer Grant Programs

In general, our grant programs are developed by RWJF program staff, in consultation with leading experts in our fields of interest, and with guidance and final approval from our board of trustees.

In many cases, we issue a competitive call for proposals (CFP) which defines the challenges we wish to address, activities we will support to achieve desired outcomes, and eligibility criteria. Very often, we also establish an intermediary organization to support subsequent program activity and provide technical assistance. In addition, we provide funding through open calls for ideas and different types of challenges and prize competitions. Also, we issue direct solicitations for projects in support of specific programmatic objectives.

What We Do Not Support

RWJF funds many initiatives in support of our vision for a Culture of Health. However, we do not make grants to individuals, and very infrequently support foreign organizations or organizations that are not tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Specific activities we do not fund include:

Ongoing general operating expenses or existing deficits

Endowment or capital costs

Basic biomedical research

Research on drug therapies or devices

Lobbying of any kind

On a continual basis, we monitor trends in our fields of interest, and assess and adjust our grantmaking in ways we believe will help us achieve the greatest impact. Through this process, as we transition into new priority areas over time, we may cease funding in others.

Often, our major shifts in funding priorities come following long-term investments that have helped to plant seeds of sustained progress. In all cases, we continue to draw on lessons from our past work to help guide our current and future grantmaking.